Medical image management systems allow medical personnel to locate, access, and display stored digital medical images. These systems typically comprise at least two networked computer components: a client device (e.g., a medical imaging review station) and a server device (e.g., a study repository server). One conventional method of accessing and displaying images requires the user to take at least two actions. First, using a keyboard, the user must manually enter information into a client device that will identify a particular patient and/or medical study. A client application in the client device then sends a search command containing the entered information to a server application on the server device. The server application locates all the studies that satisfy the search criteria and sends a list of these studies back to the client application for display to the user. The user then must select a desired study from the list, even if only one study is displayed, such as when only one study is associated with a particular patient or when the user enters enough information to identify a single study. After the user makes his selection, the client application sends a request to the server application to retrieve the digital medical images associated with the selected study. Upon receiving the request, the server application sends the images to the client application for display to the user.
There are several disadvantages to this conventional method. First, because the conventional method requires at least two user actions, the access-and-display process can take several minutes to perform. Second, because the user must push buttons, enter search criteria, and review results, the conventional method requires the user to have system-specific knowledge about the image management system. Third, because the conventional method requires the user to manually type identification information via a keyboard and visually review the results of a search, the process of locating, retrieving, and displaying digital medical images is susceptible to typographical and other operator errors.
There is, therefore, a need for a system and method for accessing stored digital medical images that will overcome the problems described above.